In this age when everything lives on screens, Superbase is among those who have been quietly turning the page back to print. The US-based creative agency known for its sharp branding and product design is doing something few studios attempt anymore. It’s publishing a printed periodical. On printing technology that is almost a century old. At first glance, that might sound nostalgic or even impractical in a world dominated by pixels and posts. But to Superbase, Superbase Zine isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about reclaiming the pace and intimacy that digital culture can’t offer.
The Genesis of the Zine
The idea began in 2024, when the studio decided to make something purely for itself. Volume 1, Issue 0 was more experiment than publication. It featured photography, artwork, and writings from the Superbase collective of designers, illustrators, and collaborators who wanted to see their ideas take shape beyond client work. There were no briefs, no commercial expectations, and no rules.
What emerged was something raw and alive. The pages displayed the spirit of creative freedom that first defined the studio. Each spread felt like a conversation between disciplines. One moment you’d find a typographic study, the next an essay on subculture, followed by sketches that might later evolve into real products. The zine wasn’t meant to sell anything. It wasn’t even meant to promote something. It was simply meant to express something.
Kelly Dee Williams, founder and creative director of Superbase, calls it a reminder of why the team creates in the first place. “The studio is built on collaboration. The zine became a place to show what happens when that collaboration is unfiltered, and for the most part, I stay out of the way,” he explained in a recent conversation. The first issue was distributed in small quantities, mostly among friends, collaborators, and clients who understood the studio’s culture. But its impact went far beyond that small circle in a way that Williams never expected.
The Collaboration with Homeboy Sandman
By the time Volume 2, Issue 1 rolled around in 2025, the zine had grown into a cultural project. Superbase partnered with New York rapper Homeboy Sandman, whose lyrical style mirrors the studio’s approach to design: honestly introspective, layered, and fearless in tone. The collaboration blurred boundaries between visual design and music, resulting in a publication that was as much an art object as it was a listening experience.
Hidden inside the issue was a secret code, an Easter egg that led readers to an exclusive audio track created for the collaboration. It wasn’t advertised. There were no instructions. Readers had to explore, discover, and engage. It was a small act of rebellion against the passive consumption that dominates media today. The collaboration also reflects a growing conversation about how creative disciplines intersect. Music, design, and storytelling share the same emotional core. Superbase’s ability to bring these worlds together showed how a brand studio could also be a cultural engine.
Volume 2, Issue 1 sold out within a matter of hours. And those who didn’t get a chance to grab a copy at either the release party or from the online store in the days that followed are reminded that even print isn’t permanent. As of this writing, Superbase doesn’t plan on reprinting more copies once they sell out.
Design Culture Revisited
Physical media has all but become an act of defiance. After all, print slows things down. It demands attention and rewards patience. You can’t swipe past a printed page. You have to hold it, feel it, and give it time. It is perishable in a completely different way than digital media.
Superbase understands this power. The decision to publish a zine is not about rejecting technology. It’s about balancing it. The studio’s team still works across digital platforms, but they recognize that some stories deserve permanence. A zine doesn’t disappear into an algorithm. It stays on coffee tables, in studios, and on shelves as part of a living archive.
The return to print also echoes a broader movement within design culture. As creators grow tired of disposable content, many are looking back to tactile formats to reconnect with meaning. The Superbase Zine isn’t sentimental. It’s forward-looking, a bridge between the sensory experience of print and the creative energy of modern design.
The Power of Tangibility
Each copy of the Superbase Zine bares something you can’t replicate online. It’s not just the paper stock or the print quality. It’s the sense that you’re holding a piece of a creative community. The imperfections, textures, and hand-assembled elements turn the publication into an artifact of collaboration.
That tangibility matters. In a time when creative work is often consumed in seconds, the zine gives people a reason to pause, connect, and collect. Readers can see the fingerprints of the people behind the brand, and that human touch builds a kind of trust that digital design often struggles to achieve. Superbase has turned its zine into something more than a side project. It’s a movement within the studio and beyond, a reminder that design is not only about what we see but how we experience it. As the creative world continues to move at lightning speed, Superbase’s investment in print suggests that the future of storytelling might not always be about faster or bigger. Sometimes it’s about going back to what we can touch.
